The former Banta School is likely to be sold and senior citizen programming moved to the former McGill Manufacturing plant at 909 Lafayette St.

The Valpo Parks Board is scheduled to vote on a resolution to sell the Banta Activity Center at its Tuesday meeting.

The Valparaiso Redevelopment Commission recently acquired the McGill plant, which has been idled since Regal Beloit America shut it down in 2021 after employees went on strike. McGill’s bearing division, which was housed there, once made parts for several aircraft.

The Parks Board and Parks Director Kevin Nuppnau recently met with select members of the City Council, Banta Activity Center and Banta Neighborhood Association Executive Committee to discuss Banta’s future and senior programming, according to a Valpo Parks news release.

Nuppnau couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

Banta Activity Center has 247 members and offers various programs and activities for the roughly 65 seniors who attend daily. Membership is $65 annually or $7 a day for people 50 and older.

Northwest Indiana Community Action provides free lunches to about 30 seniors age 60 and older at 11:30 a.m. weekdays.

It’s also a central meeting point for the Banta neighborhood.

If the Parks Board approves the resolution to solicit proposals for the sale of Banta on Tuesday, proposals would be due July 25. They would be opened July 29 and public input sought at the meeting.

Staff recommendations would be offered at the board’s Aug. 26 meeting.

Conditions on the proposed sale would include:

Not negatively impacting the Banta neighborhood’s residential character.

Not demolishing the existing building.

Valpo Parks would retain ownership of the northern park, playground and green space.

Senior programming would continue uninterrupted there for a minimum of three years, and up to five years, or until a suitable alternate location is established.

The property would need to be rezoned for the buyer’s intended use.

“The city of Valparaiso and Valparaiso Parks are committed to delivering exceptional programming for our senior community,” Nuppnau said in the news release. “While the Banta Activity Center has a long history of service spanning over a century, we believe that relocating our senior programs to a more modern and accessible facility will allow us to elevate the quality and scope of offerings in Valparaiso.”

The McGill acquisition by the RDC prompted an evaluation of the site as a potential home for senior citizen programming. The due diligence process is ongoing. Various factors and engagement of stakeholders will be taken into account.

Banta School was built in 1924, named after the city’s first school superintendent, William Henry Banta. The school, at 605 Beech St., closed in 1972. The Valparaiso Parks Department turned it into a senior center in 1978.

For years, the city has been looking at options to provide that programming elsewhere.

The 14,184-square-foot building has significant structural issues. In 2019, a Shive Hattery study estimated renovation costs at more than $3 million to ensure the building would be structurally sound for the next 50 years.

At the same time, a search committee led by Deb Butterfield explored other options, including acquiring and renovating the former Whispering Pines nursing home, a $3.5 million option, and building a new $6.4 million structure adjacent to the new Boys & Girls Club on Evans Avenue. Whispering Pines was identified as the preferred site.

Butterfield’s team envisioned an “active adult lifestyle” focus.

That search process came at the same time that Valpo Parks explored two other major projects – building a new skatepark and building a new sportsplex focused on youth sports.

The skatepark was built in the northwest corner of Fairgrounds Park. Dug Ketterman, a former Valparaiso resident and professional skatepark designer, wanted the skatepark to be a tribute to his high school friend Flounder, who died when a car Ketterman was driving slid on the ice and collided with a train.

The sportsplex project was put on hold due to cost. A data center was proposed for that site this year, but that idea was quickly rejected.

Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.